Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 on European environmental economic accounts Text with EEA relevance

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation establishes a common framework for the collection, compilation, transmission and evaluation of European environmental economic accounts, for the purpose of setting up environmental economic accounts as satellite accounts to the European System of Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010) set out in Regulation (EU) No 549/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (¹), by providing methodology, common standards, definitions, classifications and accounting rules intended to be used for compiling environmental economic accounts.

This Regulation also contributes to providing sound information on key trends of, pressures on, and drivers for environmental change and thereby supports monitoring and evaluation of the Union’s progress in meeting its environmental objectives laid down in Union law as well as its international environmental commitments.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:

(1) ‘air emission’ means the physical flow of gaseous or particulate materials from the national economy (production or consumption processes) to the atmosphere (as part of the environmental system);

(2) ‘environmentally related tax’ means a tax whose tax base is a physical unit (or a proxy of a physical unit) of something that has a proven, specific negative impact on the environment, and which is identified in  ESA 2010 as a tax;

(3) ‘economy-wide material flow accounts (EW-MFA)’ means consistent compilations of the material inputs into national economies, the changes of material stock within the economy and the material outputs to other economies or to the environment;

(4) ‘environmental protection expenditure’ means the economic resources devoted by resident units to environmental protection. Environmental protection includes all activities and actions which have as their main purpose the prevention, reduction and elimination of pollution and of any other degradation of the environment. Those activities and actions include all measures taken in order to restore the environment after it has been degraded. Activities which, while beneficial to the environment, primarily satisfy the technical needs or the internal requirements for hygiene or safety and security of an enterprise or other institution are excluded from this definition;

(5) ‘environmental goods and services sector’ means the production activities of a national economy that generate environmental products (environmental goods and services). Environmental products are products that have been produced for the purpose of environmental protection, as referred to in point (4), and resource management. Resource management includes the preservation, maintenance and enhancement of the stock of natural resources and therefore the safeguarding of those resources against depletion;

(6) ‘physical energy flow accounts’ means consistent compilations of the physical energy flows into national economies, the flows circulating within the economy and the outputs to other economies or to the environment;

(7) ‘forest accounts’ means asset accounts for forest resources, comprising wooded land and timber on wooded land, and economic activity accounts for forestry and logging;

(8) ‘environmental subsidies and similar transfers’ means current and capital transfers within the meaning of the ESA 2010, intended to support activities protecting the environment and safeguarding natural resources and related products;

(9) ‘ecosystem accounts’ means a set of accounts designed to provide consistent information on the extent and condition of ecosystems and on the flows of services from those ecosystems to the socioeconomic system.

Article 3

Modules

The environmental economic accounts to be compiled within the common framework referred to in Article 1 shall be grouped in the following modules:

(a) a module for air emissions accounts, as set out in Annex I;

(b) a module for environmentally related taxes by economic activity, as set out in Annex II;

(c) a module for economy-wide material flow accounts, as set out in Annex III;

(d) a module for environmental protection expenditure accounts, as set out in Annex IV;

(e) a module for environmental goods and services sector accounts, as set out in Annex V;

(f) a module for physical energy flow accounts, as set out in Annex VI;

(g) a module for forest accounts, as set out in Annex VII;

(h) a module for environmental subsidies and similar transfers accounts, as set out in Annex VIII;

(i) a module for ecosystem accounts, as set out in Annex IX.

Each Annex shall contain the following information:

(a) the objectives for which the accounts are to be compiled;

(b) the coverage of the accounts;

(c) the list of characteristics for which data are to be compiled and transmitted;

(d) the first reference year, frequency and transmission deadlines for the compilation of the accounts;

(e) the reporting tables;

(f) the maximum duration of the transitional periods referred to in Article 8 during which the Commission may grant derogations.

The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 9 where necessary to take account of environmental, economic and technical developments:

(a) to supplement this Regulation by providing methodological guidance;

(b) to amend Annexes I to VI as regards the information referred to in paragraph 2, points (c), (d) and (e);

(c) to amend Annexes VII, VIII and IX as regards the information referred to in paragraph 2, points (c), (d) and (e), provided that: (i) the list of characteristics referred to in paragraph 2, point (c), is only amended by up to four characteristics for each Annex every 3 years, and (ii) the information referred to in paragraph 2, point (d), is amended only in order to set out the first reference year, frequency and transmission deadlines of any added characteristics.

In exercising its power pursuant to this paragraph, the Commission shall ensure that its delegated acts do not impose a significant additional burden on the Member States or on the respondents. The Commission shall duly justify its delegated acts.

Such delegated acts shall not impose a significant additional burden on the Member States or on the respondents. When establishing and subsequently updating the lists referred to in the first subparagraph, the Commission shall duly justify the actions, using, where appropriate, input from relevant experts on a cost-effectiveness analysis, including an assessment of the burden on respondents and of the production costs.

The implementing acts referred to in the first subparagraph shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 11(2).

Article 4

Pilot and feasibility studies

Article 5

Data collection

Member States shall collect the necessary data using a combination of the different sources specified below and applying the principle of administrative simplification:

(a) surveys;

(b) statistical estimation procedures in cases where some of the characteristics have not been observed for all of the units;

(c) administrative sources;

(d) any other relevant sources, methods or innovative approaches insofar as they allow for the production of environmental economic accounts that are comparable and compliant with the applicable specific quality requirements.

Member States which decide to use the sources, methods or innovative approaches referred to in point (d) shall inform the Commission (Eurostat) as soon as possible before the end of the year preceding the implementation of the method and shall provide details concerning the quality of the data obtained.

Article 6

Transmission to the Commission (Eurostat)

Article 7

Quality assessment

Article 8

Derogations

The first subparagraph of this paragraph shall not apply to changes resulting from modifications in classifications and nomenclatures or changes to accounting frameworks of national and regional accounts in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 549/2013.

Article 8a

Financing

For the implementation of this Regulation, the Union shall provide financial support from the Single Market Programme established by Regulation (EU) 2021/690 of the European Parliament and of the Council (³) to the national statistical institutes and other national authorities referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, for:

(a) developing methodologies for statistics under this Regulation, including the participation of Member States in the representative pilot and feasibility studies referred to in Article 4;

(b) improving the statistical quality of accounts, in particular for the development or enhancement of processes, including digitally based solutions that aim to produce statistics of a higher quality;

(c) improving timeliness of accounts and reducing the administrative and reporting burden.

Article 9

Exercise of the delegation

Article 9a

Environmental Economic Account Statistical Data Portal (‘Dashboard’)

The data portal shall display the data provided by Member States in each of the modules set out in this Regulation and on the climate change mitigation investments referred to in Article 10, fourth paragraph.

Article 10

Report and review

By 31 December 2013 and every 3 years thereafter, the Commission shall submit a report on the implementation of this Regulation to the European Parliament and the Council. That report shall evaluate in particular the quality of the data transmitted, the data collection methods, the administrative burden on the Member States and on the respondent units, as well as the feasibility and effectiveness of those statistics.

The report shall, if appropriate and taking into account the findings referred to in Article 4(2), be accompanied by proposals:

— for introducing new environmental economic account modules, such as water accounts (quantitative and qualitative), resource management expenditure accounts, subsidies or support measures potentially harmful to the environment and waste accounts;

— designed to further improve data quality and data collection methods, thereby improving the coverage and comparability of data and reducing the administrative burden on business and administration.

By 31 December 2024 and at least every 2 years thereafter, the Commission (Eurostat) shall issue a digital publication that contains data and statistics on climate change mitigation, including investments, compiled from the relevant data available from the environmental economic account modules and, if appropriate, from other data sources.

The Commission shall adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 9 in order to amend, as appropriate, Annex V, Section 3, to include characteristics regarding other investments on climate change mitigation. The data included in the digital publication referred to in the third paragraph of this Article shall provide a breakdown of that data per Member State, including on investments, and shall cover all sectors of the economy and activities.

By 27 December 2026, the Commission shall assess the quality of the data available on energy subsidies, including fossil fuel subsidies, on climate change adaptation and on water and, where appropriate, submit a legislative proposal to the European Parliament and to the Council for the introduction of new environmental economic account modules for energy subsidies, including fossil fuel subsidies; climate change adaptation, including expenditure on it, and for water accounts.

Article 11

Committee

Article 12

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

ANNEX I

MODULE FOR AIR EMISSIONS ACCOUNTS

Section 1

OBJECTIVES

Air emissions accounts record and present data on air emissions in a way that is compatible with the system of national accounts. They record national economies’ emissions to air in a breakdown by emitting economic activity as delineated in  ESA 2010. Economic activities comprise production and consumption.

This Annex defines the data to be collected, compiled, transmitted and evaluated for air emissions accounts by the Member States. Those data will be developed in a way that links emissions to economic production and consumption activities by industries and households. The direct emissions data reported under this Regulation will be combined with the economic input-output tables, supply and use tables and household consumption data that are already reported to the Commission (Eurostat) as part of  ESA 2010 reporting.

Section 2

COVERAGE

Air emissions accounts have the same system boundaries as  ESA 2010 and are also based on the residence principle.

In accordance with  ESA 2010, the concept of residence is based on the following principle: a unit is said to be a resident unit of a country when it has a centre of economic interest in the economic territory of that country, that is, when it engages for an extended period (1 year or more) in economic activities in that territory.

Air emissions accounts record emissions arising from the activities of all resident units, regardless of where these emissions actually occur geographically.

Air emissions accounts record the flows of residual gaseous and particulate materials originating from the national economy and flowing into the atmosphere. For the purpose of this Regulation, the term ‘atmosphere’ refers to a component of the environmental system. The system boundary relates to the borderline between the national economy (as part of the economic system) and the atmosphere (as part of the environmental system). After having crossed the system boundary, the emitted substances are out of any human control and become part of natural materials cycles and may induce several types of environmental impacts.

Section 3

LIST OF CHARACTERISTICS

Member States shall produce statistics on the emissions of the following air pollutants:

Name	Symbol	Reporting unit
Carbon dioxide without emissions from biomass	CO2	1 000 tonnes (Gg)
Carbon dioxide from biomass	Biomass CO2	1 000 tonnes (Gg)
Nitrous oxide	N2O	tonnes (Mg)
Methane	CH4	tonnes (Mg)
Perfluorocarbons	PFCs	tonnes (Mg) CO2-equivalents
Hydrofluorocarbons	HFCs	tonnes (Mg) CO2-equivalents
Sulphur hexafluoride and nitrogen trifluoride	SF6 NF3	tonnes (Mg) CO2-equivalents
Nitrogen oxides	NOX	tonnes (Mg) NO2-equivalents
Non-methane volatile organic compounds	NMVOCs	tonnes (Mg)
Carbon monoxide	CO	tonnes (Mg)
Particulate matter < 10 μm	PM10	tonnes (Mg)
Particulate matter < 2,5 μm	PM2,5	tonnes (Mg)
Sulphur oxides	SOX	tonnes (Mg) SO2-equivalents
Ammonia	NH3	tonnes (Mg)

All data shall be reported to one decimal place.

Section 4

FIRST REFERENCE YEAR, FREQUENCY AND TRANSMISSION DEADLINES

1.Statistics shall be compiled and transmitted on a yearly basis.

2.Statistics shall be transmitted within 21 months of the end of the reference year.

3.In order to meet user needs for complete and timely datasets, the Commission (Eurostat) shall produce, as soon as sufficient country data becomes available, estimates for the EU-27 totals for the main aggregates of this module. The Commission (Eurostat) shall, wherever possible, produce and publish estimates for data that have not been transmitted by Member States within the deadline specified in point 2.

4.The first reference year is the year in which this Regulation enters into force.

5.In the first data transmission, Member States shall include annual data from 2008 to the first reference year.

6.In each subsequent data transmission to the Commission, Member States shall provide annual data for the years n-4, n-3, n-2, n-1 and n, where n is the reference year.

Section 5

REPORTING TABLES

1.For each of the characteristics referred to in Section 3, data shall be produced by a hierarchical classification of economic activities, NACE Rev. 2 (A*64 aggregation level), fully compatible with  ESA 2010. In addition, data shall be produced for:

— Household air emissions,

— Bridging items, by which is meant reporting items which clearly reconcile the differences between the air emissions accounts reported under this Regulation and those data reported in official national air emission inventories.

2.The hierarchical classification referred to in paragraph 1 is as follows:

Air emissions by industry – NACE Rev. 2 (A*64)

Household air emissions

— Transport

— Heating/cooling

— Other

Bridging items

Total air emission accounts (production activities + households) for each of the characteristics referred to in Section 3

Less national residents abroad

— National fishing vessels operating abroad

— Land transport

— Water transport

— Air transport

Plus non-residents on the territory

• Land transport

• Water transport

• Air transport

(+ or –) Other adjustments and statistical discrepancies

= Total emissions of pollutant X as reported to UNFCCC (⁴)/CLRTAP (⁵)

Section 6

MAXIMUM DURATION OF THE TRANSITIONAL PERIODS

For the implementation of the provisions of this Annex, the maximum duration of the transitional period is 2 years, from the first transmission deadline.

ANNEX II

MODULE FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY RELATED TAXES BY ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

Section 1

OBJECTIVES

Statistics on environmentally related taxes record and present data seen from the perspective of the entities paying the taxes in a way that is fully compatible with the data reported under  ESA 2010. They record national economies’ environmentally related tax revenues according to economic activity. Economic activities comprise production and consumption.

This Annex defines the data to be collected, compiled, transmitted and evaluated for environmentally related tax revenues by economic activity by the Member States.